From: Transform Ukraine By Douglas Landro / July 10, 2025
Russia Unleashes Largest Air Attack in War’s History with 741 Drones and Missiles as Ukraine Pioneers Robot Warfare and European Court Delivers Historic War Crimes Verdict
Summary of the Day – July 9, 2025
The skies above Ukraine erupted into an apocalyptic theater as Russia launched its largest combined drone and missile strike since the full-scale invasion began—741 aerial weapons tearing through the night in a coordinated assault that marked a terrifying new escalation in Moscow’s campaign of terror. The western city of Lutsk bore the brunt of this record-breaking barrage, with residents describing the howling of Shahed drones and the thunderous work of air defenses through seven hours of unrelenting attack. Yet amid this unprecedented scale of destruction, Ukraine demonstrated its own evolution in warfare, as the 3rd Assault Brigade achieved a world-first: capturing Russian soldiers using only drones and robots, without a single Ukrainian infantryman stepping onto the battlefield. The day also brought legal vindication as the European Court of Human Rights delivered a landmark ruling holding Russia accountable for the MH17 downing and systematic human rights violations dating back to 2014.
The Night the Sky Burned: 741 Weapons of War Descend on Ukraine
The darkness of July 8 gave way to a crescendo of terror as Russian forces unleashed 728 Shahed-type drones alongside 13 cruise and ballistic missiles—a 34 percent increase from the previous record of 550 weapons launched just days earlier. The assault began with MiG-31 aircraft taking off from Savasleyka airfield in Nizhny Novgorod, sending the entire country into hours-long missile alerts that would stretch from midnight to dawn.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yuriy Ihnat revealed that Russian forces deployed over 400 decoy drones specifically designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses—a tactical evolution that speaks to Moscow’s determination to maximize civilian casualties. These decoys, equipped with warheads and modified for maximum damage spread, transformed the night sky into a deadly maze where defenders struggled to distinguish between genuine threats and diversions.
Voice of Ukraine 